408 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November , 18881 
close up to the trees. This system of culture can satisfy no one, and 
it cannot be profitable. 1 fancy many good gardeners will bear me out 
when I say that want of preparation of the soil, and subsequent neglect of 
the special requirement of each class of trees, is the sole cause of canker- 
Having found a cause, I would suggest the remedy. In the first place, 
it may be remarked that heavy clay soils nearly always require to be 
drained, and a free outfall provided for the water. Three feet depth of 
drain is sufficient, with a main drain at the lowest part of the garden 
3 feet 6 inches deep. 
Secondly, trenching, or at least stirring, the soil to the depth of about 
2 feet is necessary. But I would not invariably throw the subsoil up to 
the surface, but would always stir up the bottom to the depth of 8 or 
9 inches with a fork, and if the soil could be trenched twelve months 
before planting all the better. 
In the third place, good healthy trees should be selected ; they ought 
to be carefully lifted, and planted as soon afterwards as possible. Care 
must be taken to keep the roots in a moist state from the time they are 
lifted until they are again in the ground. Spread the roots out carefully 
when planting them, and work the soil well in amongst them. Trees on 
the free stocks should be planted the same depth as they were before- 
Those on the Paradise and Quince stocks, or, in fact, any dwarfing 
stocks, should be planted to the union of the stock and scion. It is also 
of great advantage to the trees to have a mulching of decayed manure 
around the roots after planting; and if they are exposed to high 
winds, they ought to have some artificial support until they are well 
established. 
Lastly, as to the pruning and training. I seldom do any pruning in 
winter. It is a more pleasant occupation in summer, and is a very 
simple operation, merely consisting in thinning out the young wood 
when it is too much crowded, and pinching off the points of any 
vigorous young growths that are likely to run out too far for the others- 
If they grow too much it is easy to dig round the circumference of the 
roots, and to cut underneath to sever any roots that are running directly 
downwards. This will be enough to throw any tree into bearing. To 
allow a fruit tree to form a thicket of wood in the summer, and then to 
cut it all off in the autumn, is the right treatment for a pollard Willow j 
but will not do for fruit trees of any kind. There should be more 
reverence for life in the mind of the pruner than for such reckless 
pruning to be possible. 
It is quite time that a better system of fruit tree culture should be 
adopted in small as well as in large gardens. Why should amateurs 
purchase fruit when they can grow it themselves, and have all the 
pleasure as well as the profits ? It is useless to sit down and blame the 
climate, the soil, or anything else, when the real cause is a bad selection 
of varieties, or bad cultivation. Let the old worn-out cankered trees be 
rooted out from old gardens, and their places be filled with approved 
sorts likely to do well in the neighbourhood, for each district has its 
special varieties. 
Preparation of the ground by trenching and manuring is necessary, 
and whether the soil is light over gravel or a clay soil over heavy clay> 
the results will be satisfactory, and justify all the expenditure. 
CULTIVATION IN JERSEY. 
By Me. Chaeles B. Saundebs. 
The Island of Jersey, being so noted for the growth and cultivation 
of fine fruit, especially Apples and Pears, I venture to oiler a few 
remarks upon the modes of culture and the varieties cultivated, thinking 
they might be acceptable to the Committee, and also to the general body 
of horticulturists interested in the production of these health-giving 
and palate-pleasing fruits. 
Jersey being the most southerly of the group of islands in the Bay 
of St. Michael’s, and the slope of the land being from north to south¬ 
west, enjoys a very favourable climate ; the general moisture, owing to 
its position and the saline air, which almost always may be felt blowing 
over its surface, renders it particularly adapted to the growth of Pears- 
The soil is a good loam upon a substratum of clay retentive of moisture, 
which suits the Quince stock upon which most of the Pear trees are 
budded or grafted. There are localities along the coasts of which the 
soil is much mixed with sand, owing to the continuous drift in stormy 
weather, whilst some parts of the western side of the island are so much 
exposed to the Atlantic Ocean as to be entirely unfit for fruit culture 
and scarcely worth cultivating, the cereals and root crops growing upon 
them being very often subject to serious injury from the force of the 
westerly gales. Now it is easy to understand why the most protected 
and best sheltered situations are selected for the growth of the finest 
and best kinds of fruit. Apples are grown on the higher and drier parts 
of the island, where the land is stiff enough and the drainage good, 
hence the orchards, where the more ordinary kinds are grown for the 
manufacture of cider and general consumption, are generally surrounded 
by hedgerows from 5 to 8 feet high, and planted with Elm and other 
descriptions of forest trees. The Apple trees in these orchards are 
generally grafted G feet from the ground, and have spreading circular 
heads, which are perfectly beautiful when in bloom. Very many of us 
can recollect when the Weigelas of sorts were first introduced that their 
great recommendation was that they were as “ beautiful as Apple 
blossoms.” Were not Apple blossoms beautiful before then? 
These orchard trees which make such a beautiful display of flowers, 
and produce in favourable seasons such an abundance of fruit, are. 
much neglected, and a’lowed to grow in a confused mass of branches,. 
To scientific horticulturists it seems a pity that, where Nature does so 
much, man should do so little in the way of pruning, so as to give the 
trees a more regular form and better appearance. You will, I think, 
gentlemen, agree with me that judicious pruning— i.e., removing weak 
and superfluous branches, would have the good effects of improved 
appearance, more healthy growth, and finer fruit. The general character 
of the growth is so vigorous as to render it unnecessary to prune th.3 
extremities of the shoots, except for the sake of shaping the trees anl 
balancing the heads, but “ thinning out ” is the style of pruning 
requisite. 
The finer descriptions of Apple fruit are grown in gardens sometimes 
against the walls, on espaliers, or on the long cordon system. The dwarf 
cordon is not much practised, nor is it desirable, inasmuch as the growth,, 
in spite of the Paradise stock upon which the trees are usually worked, 
becomes so strong that it requires constant cutting back to keep it within 
the desired limits, and this constant repression of growth is not con¬ 
ducive to fructification. 
The finest Ribston Pippin Apples are grown upon south walls in 
sheltered gardens, trained upon the fan system. The strong radiative, 
shoots being selected to form the frame of the trees, anj the lateral 
and weaker branches being pinched and pruned off, so as to get 
fruit spurs to form. It is an excellent system, barring the dis¬ 
advantage of the early maturity of the fruit. Very few other sorts- 
are thought worthy of wall culture. The dwarf bush, ( the open 
standards, the rider or tall standard trees are all acceptable forms of 
garden trees, where the space is sufficient; and such varieties as Early 
Stibberd, Red Astrachan, Lord Suffield, Hawthornden, Red Quarrenden r 
Hooper’s Seedling, Downton King, Golden and Walton Pippins, Grand 
Alexander, Cox’s Pomona and Orange Pippin, Court of Wick Pippin,. 
English and Dutch Codlins, &c., are grown freely on Paradise as well as. 
other stock, and take but little space. It is not unusual to sqe crops of 
fruit considerably above the weight of the trees producing them. 
Planting Paradise stock Apple trees in rows 6 feet apart, and the trees at. 
3 feet apart in the rows, suggests a system of culture which might be 
made remunerative, and were it not for the constant changing of tenants 
from one piece of land to another, might be advantageously practised. 
It is not so here ; most of the fine fruit is produced on accidental trees,, 
either found in gardens on taking possession, or planted by incoming, 
tenants. Taking into consideration the time necessary to get a stock of 
trees into a good bearing state, few tenants would care to adopt any 
system of planting or training from which they would not derive some: 
immediate advantage. 
The cultivation of the Pear has been so very remunerative for years-- 
past that it has been made a subject of more general study and system. 
Many of the old gardens, established half a century or more ago, offer 
evidence of the walks having palisades on both sides, for the purpose of 
training Pear trees upon them, and in some cases the palisading has 
been double, so as to admit of trees being trained on both sides, 1 foot 
or less being the intervening space between the rows of palisades. Trees 
planted in this way are generally productive, the main lateral branches-- 
being trained and supported horizontally, a regular and continuous 
supply of sap is provided during the growing season for the development 
of the fruit. This system has and does answer well, and as long as the 
trees continue healthy they bear good crops of fruit, the size of which 
much depends upon the amount, of thinning practised. Against walls,, 
both horizontal, fan, and cordon styles of training are practised, all of 
which answer well in the hands of careful attendants. Dwarf husb¬ 
and pyramidal trees are also grown, many acres of ground being devoted 
to the cultivation of the celebrated Chaumontel Pear. The great 
number of excellent varieties grown, and their exquisite though varied 
flavours, make the Pear a fruit of general acceptance, though few 
varieties are much grown. Citron des Cannes, Jargonelle, Williams’ 
Bon Chretien, Louise Bonne, Mardchal de Corn, BeunA d’Amanlis. 
